Teresa of Calcutta – “Lying at his door was a poor man”

Teresa of Calcutta – “Lying at his door was a poor man”

Christ said, “I was hungry and you gave me food” (Mt 25,35). He was hungry not only for bread but for I the understanding love of being loved, of being known, of being someone to someone. He was naked not only of clothing but of human dignity and of respect, through the injustice that is done to the poor, who are looked down upon simply because they are poor. He was dispossessed not only of a house… but because of the dispossession of those who are locked up, of those who are unwanted and unloved, of those who walk through the world with no one to care for them.

You may go out into the street and have nothing to say, but maybe there is a man standing there on the corner and you go to him. Maybe he resents you, but you are there, and that presence is there. You must radiate that presence that is within you, in the way you address that man with love and respect. Why? Because you believe that is Jesus. Jesus cannot receive you – for this, you must know how to go to Him. He comes disguised in the form of that person there. Jesus, in the least of His brethren (Mt 25,40), is not only hungry for a piece of bread, but hungry for love, to be known, to be taken into account.